Keywords
working memory
complex dynamic systems theory
second language development
theoretical complementarity
How to Cite
Number of views: 1585
Number of downloads: 1027
Abstract
Working memory (WM) is inherently dynamic and complex, being a multi-faceted system that links storage and processing components; yet it is widely understood as internal. Hence, in second language (L2) research, its connection to complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) remains underspecified. This paper seeks to bridge a gap between CDST and WM in L2 research. First, definitions of WM are reviewed, along with evidence for its relationship to L2 outcomes. Next, a brief overview of CDST highlights its metatheoretical and methodological implications. Three perspectives are presented to illustrate how WM can be viewed in terms of major tenets in CDST. These consider WM effects as: (1) context-dependent, (2) interrelated with those of other variables, and (3) amenable to change across the lifespan. Despite this reappraisal, numerous challenges remain. Thus, in addition to noting research opportunities, the paper also considers measurement issues, such as the determination of boundaries and selection of appropriate timescales. In closing, while WM studies have shown its influence on L2 proficiency and processing, to more fully understand its dynamic nature, what is needed is further research on the reciprocal influences of bilingual development and changes in WM components, such as control of attention.
References
Adesope, O. O., Lavin, T., Thompson, T., & Ungerleider, C. (2010). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the cognitive correlates of bilingualism. Review of Educational Research, 80(2), 207-245.
Alloway, T., & Alloway, R. (2013). The working memory advantage: Train your brain to function stronger, smarter, faster. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Amici, F., Sánchez-Amaro, A., Sebastián-Enesco, C., Cacchione, T., Allritz, M., Salazar-Bonet, J., & Rossano, F. (2019). The word order of languages predicts native speakers’ working memory. Scientific Reports, 9, 1-12.
Baddeley, A. D. (2007). Working memory, thought, and action. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Baddeley, A. (2012). Working memory: Theories, models, and controversies. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 1-29.
Baddeley, A. D. (2019). Working memories: Postmen, divers and the cognitive revolution. New York: Routledge.
Bialystok, E. (2018). Bilingualism and executive function: What’s the connection? In D. Miller, F. Bayram, J. Rothman, & L. Serratrice (Eds.), Bilingual cognition and language: The state of the science across its subfields (pp. 283-305). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Biedroń, A, & Birdsong, D. (2019). Highly proficient and gifted bilinguals. In A. De Houwer & L. Ortega (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of bilingualism (pp. 307-323). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Brooks, P. J., & Kempe, V. (2019). More is more in language learning: Reconsidering the less‐is‐more hypothesis. Language Learning, 69(S1), 13-41.
Christiner, M., & Reiterer, S. (2016). Music, song and speech: A closer look at the interfaces between musicality, singing and individual differences in phonetic language aptitude. In G. Granena, D. O. Jackson, & Y. Yilmaz (Eds.), Cognitive individual differences in second language processing and acquisition (pp. 131-156). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Conway, A. R. A., Jarrold, C., Kane, M. J., Miyake, A., & Towse, J. (Eds.). (2008). Variation in working memory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cowan, N. (2005). Working memory capacity. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
Doughty, C. (2001). Cognitive underpinnings of focus on form. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 206-257). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Doughty, C. J., & Long, M. H. (2003). The scope of inquiry and goals of SLA. In C. J. Doughty & M. H. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 3-16). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Dörnyei, Z. (2017). Conceptualizing L2 learner characteristics in a complex, dynamic world. In L. Ortega & Z. Han (Eds.), Complexity theory and language development: In celebration of Diane Larsen-Freeman (pp. 79-96). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
de Bot, K., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (2011). Researching second language development from a dynamic systems theory perspective. In M. H. Verspoor, K. de Bot, & W. Lowie (Eds.), A dynamic approach to second language development: Methods and techniques (pp. 5-23). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ellis, N. C. (2005). At the interface: Dynamic interactions of explicit and implicit language knowledge. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27, 305-352.
Engle, R. W., Kane, M. J., & Tuholski, S. W. (1999). Individual differences in working memory capacity and what they tell us about controlled attention, general fluid intelligence, and functions of the prefrontal cortex. In A. Miyake & P. Shah (Eds.), Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (pp. 102-134). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Gass, S., & Lee, J. (2012). Working memory capacity, inhibitory control, and proficiency in a second language. In M. S. Schmid & W. Lowie (Eds.), Modeling bilingualism: From structure to chaos (pp. 59-84). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Gathercole, S., & Alloway, T. P. (2008). Working memory and learning: A practical guide for teachers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Geva, E., & Ryan, E. B. (1993). Linguistic and cognitive correlates of academic skills in first and second languages. Language Learning, 43(1), 5-42.
Granena, G., Jackson, D. O., & Yilmaz, Y. (2016). Cognitive individual differences in second language learning and processing. In G. Granena, D. O. Jackson, & Y. Yilmaz (Eds.), Cognitive individual differences in second language processing and acquisition (pp. 1-14). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Gregersen, T., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2014). Capitalizing on language learners’ individuality: From premise to practice. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Grundy J. G., & Timmer, K. (2017). Bilingualism and working memory capacity: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Second Language Research, 33(3), 325-340.
Gurzynski-Weiss, L. (Ed.). (2017). Expanding individual difference research in the interaction approach: Investigating learners, instructors, and other interlocutors. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hansen, L. B., Macizo, P., Duñabeitia, J. A., Saldaña, D., Carreiras, M., Fuentes, L. J., & Bajo, M. T. (2016). Emergent bilingualism and working memory development in school aged children. Language Learning, 66(S2), 51-75.
Hassin, R. R., Bargh, J. A., Engell, A. D., & McCulloch, K. C. (2009). Implicit working memory. Consciousness and Cognition, 18, 665-678.
Hulstijn, J. H. (2015). Language proficiency in native and non-native speakers: Theory and research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Jackson, D. O. (2013). Implicit second language learning and individual differences. In J. M. Bergsleithner, S. N. Frota, & J. K. Yoshioka (Eds.), Noticing and second language acquisition: Studies in honor of Richard Schmidt (pp. 271-287). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i, National Foreign Language Resource Center.
Jackson, D. O. (2016). An empirical study of working memory, personality, and second language construction learning. In G. Granena, D. O. Jackson, & Y. Yilmaz (Eds.), Cognitive individual differences in second language processing and acquisition (pp. 157-184). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Juffs, A., & Harrington, M. (2011). Aspects of working memory in L2 learning. Language Teaching, 44, 137-166.
Kempe, V., & Brooks, P. J. (2016). Miniature natural language learning in L2 acquisition research. In G. Granena, D. O. Jackson, & Y. Yilmaz (Eds.), Cognitive individual differences in second language processing and acquisition (pp. 41-67). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2015). Ten “lessons” from complex dynamic systems theory: What is on offer. In Z. Dörnyei, P. MacIntyre, & A. Henry (Eds.), Motivational dynamics in language learning (pp. 11-19). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2017). Complexity theory: The lessons continue. In L. Ortega & Z. Han (Eds.), Complexity theory and language development: In celebration of Diane Larsen-Freeman (pp. 11-50). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Li, P. (2015). Bilingualism as a dynamic process. In B. MacWhinney & W. O’Grady (Eds.), Handbook of language emergence (pp. 511-536). Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Li, S. (2016). The construct validity of language aptitude: A meta-analysis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 801-842.
Li, S., & Fu, M. (2018). Strategic and unpressured within-task planning and their associations with working memory. Language Teaching Research, 22(2), 230-253.
Linck, J. A., Osthus, P., Koeth, J. T., & Bunting, M. F. (2014). Working memory and second language comprehension and production: A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 21, 861-883.
Linck, J. A., & Weiss, D. J. (2011). Working memory predicts the acquisition of explicit L2 knowledge. In C. Sanz & R. P. Leow (Eds.), Implicit and explicit language learning: Conditions, processes, and knowledge in SLA and bilingualism (pp. 101-113). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Lowie, W. M., & Verspoor, M. H. (2019). Individual differences and the ergodicity problem. Language Learning, 69(S1), 184-206.
MacDonald, M. C., & Christiansen, M. H. (2002). Reassessing working memory: Comment on Just and Carpenter (1992) and Waters and Caplan (1996). Psychological Review, 109(1), 35-54.
MacIntyre, P., MacKay, E., Ross, J., & Abel, E. (2017). The emerging need for methods appropriate to study dynamic systems: Individual differences in motivational dynamics. In L. Ortega & Z. Han (Eds.), Complexity theory and language development: In celebration of Diane Larsen-Freeman (pp. 97-122). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
MacIntyre, P. D., & Legatto, J. J. (2011). A dynamic system approach to willingness to communicate: Developing an idiodynamic method to capture rapidly changing affect. Applied Linguistics, 32(2), 149-171.
Mackey, A., Philp, J., Egi, T., Fujii, A., & Tatsumi, T. (2002). Individual differences in working memory, noticing of interactional feedback and L2 development. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Individual differences and instructed second language learning (pp. 181-209). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Mackey, A., & Sachs, R. (2012). Older learners in SLA research: A first look at working memory, feedback, and L2 development. Language Learning, 62(3), 704-740.
McDonough, K., & Trofimovich, P. (2016). The role of statistical learning and working memory in L2 speakers’ pattern learning. Modern Language Journal, 100(2), 428-445.
Miyake, A., & Friedman, N. (1998). Individual differences in second language proficiency: Working memory as language aptitude. In A. F. Healy & L. E. Bourne (Eds.), Foreign language learning: Psycholinguistic studies on training and retention (pp. 339-364). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “Frontal Lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49-100.
Miyake, A., & Shah, P. (Eds.). (1999). Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Newport, E. L. (1990). Maturational constraints on language learning. Cognitive Science, 14, 11-28.
Ortega, L., & Byrnes, H. (2008). Theorizing advancedness, setting up the research agenda. In L. Ortega & H. Byrnes (Eds.), The longitudinal study of advanced L2 capacities (pp. 281-300). New York: Routledge.
Park, D. C., & Payer, D. (2006). Working memory in children: A cognitive approach. In E. Bialystok & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Lifespan cognition: Mechanisms of change (pp. 128-142). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Robinson, P. (2003). Attention and memory during SLA. In C. J. Doughty & M. H. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 631-678). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Robinson, P. (2007). Aptitudes, abilities, contexts, and practice. In R. M. DeKeyser (Ed.), Practice in a second language: Perspectives from applied linguistics and psychology (pp. 256-286). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Sagarra, N. (2017). Longitudinal effects of working memory on L2 grammar and reading abilities. Second Language Research, 33(3), 341-363.
Schmidt, R. (2012). Attention, awareness, and individual differences in language learning. In W. M. Chan, K. N. Chin, S. Bhatt, & I. Walker (Eds.), Perspectives on individual characteristics and foreign language education (pp. 27-50). Boston, MA: De Gruyter.
Schwieter, J. W. (2016). (Ed.). Cognitive control and consequences of multilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Serafini, E. J. (2017). Exploring the dynamic long‐term interaction between cognitive and psychosocial resources in adult second language development at varying proficiency. Modern Language Journal, 101(2), 369-390.
Serafini, E., & Sanz, C. (2016). Evidence for the decreasing impact of cognitive ability on second language development as proficiency increases. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 607-646.
Simmering, V. R., & Perone, S. (2013). Working memory capacity as a dynamic process. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 1-26.
Skehan, P. (2016). Foreign language aptitude, acquisitional sequences, and psycholinguistic processes. In G. Granena, D. O. Jackson, & Y. Yilmaz (Eds.), Cognitive individual differences in second language processing and acquisition (pp. 17-40). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Spivey, M. (2007). The continuity of mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tsai, N., Au, J., & Jaeggi, S. M. (2016). Working memory, language processing, and implications of malleability for second language acquisition. In G. Granena, D. O. Jackson, & Y. Yilmaz (Eds.), Cognitive individual differences in second language processing and acquisition (pp. 69-88). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Vatz, K., Tare, M., Jackson, S. R., & Doughty, C. J. (2013). Aptitude-treatment interaction studies in second language acquisition: Findings and methodology. In G. Granena & M. H. Long (Eds.), Sensitive periods, language aptitude, and ultimate L2 attainment (pp. 273-292). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Verspoor, M. H., de Bot, K., & Lowie, W. (Eds.). (2011). A dynamic approach to second language development: Methods and techniques. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Verspoor, M., & van Dijk, M. (2011). Visualizing interactions between variables. In M. H. Verspoor, K. de Bot, & W. Lowie (Eds.), A dynamic approach to second language development: Methods and techniques (pp. 85-98). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Watanabe, Y., & Bergsleithner, J. M. (2006). A systematic research synthesis of L2 WM measurements. In Z. Madden-Wood & K. Ueki (Eds.), Selected papers from the tenth college-wide conference for students in languages, linguistics, and literature (pp. 47-60). Honolulu, HI: College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature, University of Hawaii.
Wen, Z. (2016). Working memory and second language learning. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Wen, Z. (2018). Using formulaic sequences to measure task performance: The role of working memory. In M. J. Ahmadian & M. P. García Mayo (Eds.), Recent perspectives on task-based language learning and teaching (pp. 29-51). Boston, MA: De Gruyter.
Wen, Z., Biedroń, A., & Skehan, P. (2017). Foreign language aptitude theory: Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Language Teaching, 50(1), 1-31.
Williams, J. N. (2012). Working memory and SLA. In S. M. Gass & A. Mackey (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 427-441). New York, NY: Routledge.
Zalbidea, J. (2017). “One task fits all”? The roles of task complexity, modality, and working memory capacity in L2 performance. Modern Language Journal, 101(2), 335-352.
License
1.1 The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person. The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
1.2. The Publisher warrants that is the owner of the PRESSto platform for open access journals, hereinafter referred to as the PRESSto Platform.
2. The Author grants the Publisher non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons.
3. The Author grants the Publisher permission to reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
4. The Author grants the Publisher permission to send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases.
5. The Author represents that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Publisher is entitled and obliged to:
5.1. allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made, based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons sub-license or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons;
5.2. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.3. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
6. Because of the royalty-free provision of services of the Author (resulting from the scope of obligations stipulated in the present Agreement), the Author shall not be entitled to any author’s fee due and payable on the part of the Publisher (no fee or royalty is payable by the Publisher to the Author).
7.1. In the case of third party claims or actions for indemnity against the Publisher owing to any infractions related to any form of infringement of intellectual property rights protection, including copyright infringements, the Author is obliged to take all possible measures necessary to protect against these claims and, when as a result of legal action, the Publisher, or any third party licensed by the Publisher to use the Work, will have to abandon using the Work in its entirety or in part or, following a court ruling in a legal challenge, to pay damages to a third party, whatever the legal basis
7.2. The Author will immediately inform the Publisher about any damage claims related to intellectual property infringements, including the author’s proprietary rights pertaining to a copyrighted work, filed against the Author. of liability, the Author is obliged to redress the damage resulting from claims made by third party, including costs and expenditures incurred in the process.
7.3. To all matters not settled herein provisions of the Polish Civil Code and the Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act shall apply.